‘Winning Streak’ for
Newtown’s Natasha

Miss Donegal Natasha McFadden is set to return to Dublin just weeks after competing in Miss Ireland - but this time it’s to compete on ‘Winning Streak.’

Natasha, from Newtowncunningham, has been chosen to appear on the RTE game show this weekend and told the ‘Journal’ she’s “still in shock.”

Unlike other contestants, who find out they’re to appear on the show when it’s revealed on TV, Natasha found out during a phone call on Sunday.

The contestants’ ‘three star’ tickets were pulled out of the drum off-air as the show is currently undergoing a revamp.

So Natasha got the shock of her life when she received a call from the National Lottery.

She said: “The sweat started to break on me when they said ‘National Lottery.’ I was at a birthday party and had just been on a bouncy castle with the ‘wee ones,’ so I wasn’t expecting it at all.

“They told me my ticket was the last one pulled out. I’m still in shock.”

Natasha, who is 22-years-old, told how she’s been sending in her three star tickets to the show for the past three years, so isn’t sure when she bought the lucky one.

However, she does know that she bought it in Kernan’s Eurospar in Newtowncunningham.

Natasha will travel to Dublin to take part in the show this weekend and will bring 22 members of her family and friends with her.

She has allocated the tickets to the 20 people who recently accompanied her to Dublin when she took part in the finals of Miss Ireland, as she “believes this is the fairest way.”

She will then give the two remaining tickets to other family members.

Natasha admitted that the past couple of weeks have been “crazy” for her and said she “never, ever” thought she’d be going back to Dublin to take part in the show.

Natasha said she watches Winning Streak all the time and is looking forward to taking part in it.

She added she’s not too nervous about facing the cameras and said her family laughed when she came off the phone with the lottery representative and declared she needed to book someone to do her hair and make up.

Natasha said she’d be happy to come away with any sum of money, but whatever she wins will go towards a deposit for a house.

She said: “I’d be more than delighted if I came away with enough for that and anything more than that would just be a bonus.”

You can watch Natasha on the show on RTE One this Saturday night from 8.15 p.m.

The show is hosted by Sinead Kennedy and Marty Whelan and the top prize is E500,000.